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'''Arthur Machen''' ([[March 3]], [[1863]] &ndash; [[December 15th]], [[1947]]) was a leading [[Wales|Welsh]]-born [[author]] of the 1890s. He is best known for his influential [[supernatural fiction|supernatural]], [[fantasy fiction|fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]]. He also is well known for a leading role in creating the myth of the [[Angels of Mons]]. 

==Biography==

===Early years===

He was born '''Arthur Llewelyn Jones''', in [[Caerleon]] in [[Monmouthshire]]. His father [[John Edward Jones]] became Vicar of the tiny church of [[Llandewi Fach]], near Caerleon, and his son was brought up at the rectory there. Later his father adopted his Mother's maiden name Machen to inherit a legacy becoming "Jones-Machen" and his son just used the name Arthur Machen. Machen's love of the beautiful landscape of [[Gwent]] with its associations with Celtic, Roman and medieval history made a powerful impression on him which are at the heart of many of his works. At the age of eleven Machen boarded at [[Hereford Cathedral School]] where he received an excellent classical education. Family poverty however ruled out attendance at University and Machen was sent to [[London]] where he sat exams to attend medical school but failed to get in. Machen however showed literary promise; publishing in 1881 a long poem "Eleusinia" on the subject of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]. Returning to London he lived in relative poverty attempting to work as a journalist, as a publishers clerk and as a children’s tutor while writing in the evening and going on long rambling walks across London.

In 1884 he published his second work, the pastiche The Anatomy of Tobacco, and secured work with the publisher and bookseller [[George Redway]] as a cataloguer and magazine editor. This led to further work as a translator from Old French, translating the [[Marguerite of Navarre]], [[Heptameron]], [[Beroalde de Verville]], ''"Le Moyen de Parvenir"'' (Fantastic Tales) and [[Casanova]], "Memoirs". Machen's translations in a spirited English style became standard ones for many years. In 1887 Machen married [[Amy Hogg]], an unconventional music teacher with a passion for the theatre who had literary friends in London's Bohemian circles. Amy had significantly introduced Machen to [[A. E. Waite]] who was to become one of Machen's closest friends. Machen also made the acquaintance of other literary figues such as [[M. P. Shiel]] and [[Edgar Jepson]]. Soon after his marriage, Machen began to receive a series of legacies from Scottish relatives that allowed him to gradually devote more time to writing.

===Literary decadence in the 1890s===

Around 1890 Machen began to write stories for literary magazines very much influenced by the works of [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], some of which used gothic or fantastic themes. This led to the creation of his first major success [[The Great God Pan]]. It was published in [[1894]] by [[John Lane]] in the noted [[Keynote]] series of novels which were part of the growing [[aesthetic movement]] of the time. Machen’s story was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and subsequently sold well, going into a second edition. Machen next produced [[The Three Imposters]], a short novel composed of a number of interwoven tales in [[1895]]. The novel and the stories within it were eventually to become one of Machen’s best known works. However, following the scandal surrounding [[Oscar Wilde]] later that year Machen’s association with works of decadent horror made it  difficult to find a publisher for new works. Thus though he wrote some of his greatest works over the next few years some of these were published much later. These included The Hill of Dreams, Hieroglyphics, A Fragment of Life, the story The White People, and the stories which make up Ornaments in Jade.

===Tragedy and acting: 1899-1910===

In [[1899]] Machen’s wife Amy died of cancer after a long period of illness. This had a devastating effect on Machen. He only gradually recovered from his loss over the next year, partially through his close friendship with [[A. E. Waite]]. It was through Waite’s influence that Machen joined at this time the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]], though Machen’s interest in the organization was not a lasting one. Machen’s recovery was further helped by his sudden change of career, becoming an actor in 1901 and a member of [[Frank Benson]]’s company of traveling players, a profession which took him round the country. This led in 1903 to a second marriage to [[Dorothie Purefoy Hudleston]] which brought Machen much happiness. Machen managed to find a publisher in 1902 for his earlier written work Hieroglyphics, which was his analysis of the nature of literature, wherein he came to the conclusion that true literature must convey ecstasy. In [[1906]] Machen’s literary career began once more to flourish as the book [[The House of Souls]] collected his most notable works of the Nineties and brought them to a new audience. He also published a satirical work, “Dr Stiggins – His views and principles”, generally considered one of his weakest works. Machen also was at this time investigating [[Celtic Christianity]], The [[Holy Grail]] and [[King Arthur]]. Publishing his views in [[Lord Alfred Douglas]]’s [[The Academy]] where he wrote regularly, Machen concluded that the legends of the Grail actually were based on dim recollections of the rites of the Celtic Church. These ideas also featured strongly in [[The Secret Glory]] which he wrote at this time. In 1907 [[The Hill of Dreams]], generally considered Machen’s masterpiece, was finally published, though it was not recognized much at the time.

The next few years saw Machen continue with acting in various companies and with journalistic work, but he was finding it increasingly hard to earn a living as his legacies were long exhausted. Machen was also attending literary gatherings like The [[New Bohemians]] and  The [[Square Club]] amongst other activities.

===Journalism and the Great War: 1910-1921===

Finally Machen accepted a full time journalist’s job at [[Alfred Harmsworth]]’s [[London Evening News]] in [[1910]]. In February 1912 his son Hilary was born, followed by a daughter Janet in 1917. The coming of war in [[1914]] saw Machen return to public prominence for the first time in twenty years due to the publication of [[The Bowman]] and the subsequent [[Angels of Mons]] episode. He published a series of stories capitalizing on this success, most of which were morale boosting propaganda but the most notable, “The Great Return” (1915), and the novella “The Terror” (1917), were more accomplished. He also published a series of autobiographical articles during the war, later published as “Far off Things”. 

In general though Machen thoroughly disliked work at the newspaper, and it was only the need to earn money for his family which kept him at it. The money came in useful allowing him to move to a bigger house in [[St John’s Wood]] in 1919 with a garden, which became a noted location for literary gatherings attended by friends like the painter [[Augustus John]], [[Wyndham Lewis]], and [[Jerome K. Jerome]]. Machen’s dismissal from the Evening News in 1921 came as a relief in one sense though it caused financial problems. However Machen was recognized as a great Fleet Street character by his contemporaries and he remained in demand as an essay writer for much of the twenties.

===The Machen Boom of the Twenties===

Fortunately 1922 also saw a revival in Machen’s literary fortunes. [[The Secret Glory]] was finally published, as was his autobiography “Far Off Things”, and new editions of Machen’s Casanova, [[The House of Souls]] and [[The Hill of Dreams]] all came out. Machen’s works had now found a new audience and publishers in America and a series of requests for republications of books started to come in. [[Vincent Starrett]], [[James Branch Cabell]] and [[Carl Van Vechten]] were American Machen devotees who helped in this process. A sign of his rising fortunes were shown by publication in 1923 of a collected edition of his works and a bibliography. That year also saw the publication of a recently completed second volume of autobiography “Things Near and Far”, the final volume, “The London Adventure” being published in 1924. Machen’s earlier works suddenly started becoming much sought after collectors items at this time, a position they have held ever since. In 1924 he issued a collection of bad reviews of his own work, with very little commentary, under the title ''Precious Balms.''

===Final years: 1926-1947===

By 1926 the boom in republication was mostly over and Machen’s income dropped. He continued republishing earlier works in collected editions as well as writing essays and articles for various magazines, newspapers and contributing forwards and introductions to both his own and other writers works, but produced little new fiction. In 1927 he became a manuscript reader for publisher Ernest Benn which brought in much needed regular income till 1933. In 1929 Machen and his family moved away from London to [[Amersham]] in Buckinghamshire, but they still faced financial hardship. He received some recognition for his literary work when he received a Civil List pension in 1932 of one hundred pounds, but the loss of work from Benns a year later made things difficult once more. A few more collections of Machen’s shorter works were published in the thirties, partially as a result of the championing of Machen by [[John Gawsworth]], who also began work on a biography of Machen only published in 2005. 

Machen’s financial difficulties were only finally ended by the literary appeal launched in 1943 for his eightieth birthday. The initial names on the appeal show the general recognition of Machen’s stature as a distinguished man of letters as they included [[Max Beerbohm]], [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Bernard Shaw]], [[Walter de la Mare]], [[Algernon Blackwood]] and [[John Masefield]] amongst others. The success of the appeal allowed Machen to live the last few years of his life till 1947 in relative comfort.

==Machen’s philosophy and religion==

From the beginning of his literary career Machen espoused a [[mystical]] belief that the humdrum ordinary world hid a more mysterious and strange world beyond. His [[gothic novel|gothic]] and [[decadent]] works of the eighteen-nineties concluded that the lifting of this veil could lead to madness, sex, or death, and usually a combination of all three. Machen’s later works became somewhat less obviously full of gothic trappings, but for him investigations into mysteries invariably resulted in life changing transformation and sacrifice. Machen loved the medieval world view because he felt it combined deep spirituality alongside a rambunctious earthiness. 

Machen was a great enthusiast for the literature which he felt conveyed the joy inherent in life and thus contained a feeling of ecstasy. His main passions and influences were for writers and writing he felt achieved this, an idiosyncratic list which included the ''[[Mabinogion]]'' and other [[romance (genre)|medieval romances]], [[François Rabelais]], [[Miguel de Cervantes]], [[William Shakespeare]], [[Samuel Johnson]], [[Thomas de Quincy]], [[Charles Dickens]], [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], [[Edgar Allan Poe]], and [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]. Those writers who failed to achieve this or far worse did not even attempt it, received short shrift from Machen.

Machen’s strong opposition to a materialistic viewpoint is obvious in many of his works marking him as part of [[neo-romanticism]]. He was deeply suspicious of [[science]], [[materialism]], [[commerce]] and [[Puritanism]], all of which were anathema to Machen's [[conservative]], [[bohemian]], [[mystical]], and ritualistic temperament. Machen’s virulent satirical streak against things he disliked has been regarded as a weakness in his work, and rather dating especially where it comes to the fore in works such as “Dr Stiggins”. Similarly some of his propaganda based [[First World War]] stories also have little appeal to a modern audience.

Machen, brought up as the son of a [[Church of England]] clergyman, always had Christian beliefs contrasting with a fascination with a sensual [[mysticism]] which led him towards an interest in [[paganism]] and the [[occult]] which was especially seen in his earliest works.  Unlike many of his contemporaries, such as [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[Alfred Douglas]] his hatred of the [[reformation]], appreciation of the [[medieval]] world, and its [[Roman Catholic]] ritual and decoration did not fully tempt him away from [[Anglicanism]] nor did he fit entirely easily into the Victorian [[Anglo-Catholic]] world.
The death of his first wife led him to a spiritual crossroads and he experienced a series of mystical events. After experimenting with the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]], the orthodox ritual of the Church became every more important to him, gradually defining his position as a [[High Church]] Anglican who was able to incorporate elements from his own mystical experiences, [[Celtic Christianity]], and readings in literature and legend into his thinking.

== Legacy and influence ==

Machen’s literary significance is substantial, his work having been reprinted in short story anthologies countless times and translated into several languages. More recently the [[small press]] has continued to keep Machen's work in print.

Literary critics see Machen’s works as a significant part of the late Victorian revival of the [[gothic novel]] and the [[decadent]] movement of the 1890s bearing direct comparison to the themes found in contemporary works like [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]’s [[The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]], [[Bram Stoker]]’s [[Dracula]] and [[Oscar Wilde]]’s [[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]. At the time authors like Wilde, [[W.B. Yeats]] and [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] were all admirers of Machen’s works. 

His popularity in 1920s America has been noted and Machen’s work was an influence on the development of the pulp horror found in magazines like [[Weird Tales]] and on such notable fantasy writers as [[James Branch Cabell]], [[Clark Ashton Smith]] and [[Robert E. Howard]].

His significance was recognized by [[H.P. Lovecraft]], who in his essay on "Supernatural Horror in literature" named Machen as one of the four "modern masters" of supernatural horror (with [[Algernon Blackwood]], [[Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany|Lord Dunsany]], and [[M. R. James]]). Machen’s influence on Lovecraft’s own work is substantial. Lovecraft’s reading of Machen in the early twenties led him away from his earlier Dunsanyian writing towards the development of what became the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]. Machen’s use of a contemporary Welsh or a London background in which sinister ancient horrors lurk and are capable of interbreeding with modern people obviously helped inspire Lovecraft’s ideas and moved him towards a similar use of a New England background. Lovecraft pays tribute to the influence by directly incorporating some of Machen’s creations and references such as [[Nodens (Cthulhu Mythos)]], and [[Aklo]] into his [[Cthulhu Mythos]], and using similar plot lines most notably seen by a comparison of [[The Dunwich Horror]] to [[The Great God Pan]].

His intense, atmospheric stories of horror and the supernatural have been read and enjoyed by many modern horror and fantasy writers influencing directly [[Peter Straub]], [[Ramsey Campbell]], [[Graham Joyce]], [[Simon Clark]], [[Mark Samuels]] and [[T. E. D. Klein]] to name but a few. Klein's novel ''The Ceremonies'' was partly based on Machen's "The White People", and [[Peter Straub]]'s novel ''Ghost Story'' was influenced by ''The Great God Pan''. 

Machen’s influence is not limited to genre fiction however, [[Jorge Luis Borges]] recognized Machen as a great writer and through him he has had an influence on [[magic realism]]. He was also a major influence on [[Paul Bowles]] amd [[Javier Marias]][. He also was one of the most significant figures in the life of Poet Laureate, Sir [[John Betjeman]], who attibuted to Machen his conversion to High Church Anglicanism, an important part of his philosophy and poetry. Obviously Machen's niece [[Sylvia Townsend Warner]] also was influenced by the author.

Machen was also a pioneer in [[psychogeography]] due to his interest in the interconnection between landscape and the mind. His strange wanderings in Wales and London recorded in his beautiful prose make him of great interest to writers on this subject especially those focusing on London such as [[Iain Sinclair]], and [[Peter Ackroyd]]. [[Alan Moore]] wrote an exploration of Machen’s mystical experiences in his work Snakes and Ladders. [[Aleister Crowley]] loved Machen’s works feeling they contained magickal truth, though Machen, who never met him, detested Crowley.

In music [[John Ireland (composer)]] found Machen’s works to be a life changing experience which directly influenced much of his composition. [[Mark E. Smith]] of [[The Fall]] also found Machen an inspiration. Film director [[Michael Powell]] was also strongly influenced by Machen’s works. It is an interest also shared by other directors like [[Guillermo del Toro]] and [[Richard Stanley]]. Other notable figures with an enthusiasm for Machen have included [[Brocard Sewell]], [[Barry Humphries]], and [[Rowan Williams]] Archbishop of Canterbury.

An Arthur Machen Society was established in 1948 in the United States and survived till the sixties. It was followed by Arthur Machen Society based in the UK in 1986 which in turn was replaced by the current literary society, [[The Friends of Arthur Machen]], which is dedicated to preserving Machen's name.

== References ==

* Reynolds, Aidan and William Charlton, ''Arthur Machen'', London: John Baker, 1963. Paperback reprint, Oxford: Caermaen Books, 1988.
* Sweetser, Wesley, D., ''Arthur Machen'', New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1964.
* Valentine, Mark, ''Arthur Machen'', Bridgend: Seren Books, 1995
* Gawsworth, John, ''The Life of Arthur Machen'', Available from the Friends of Arthur Machen, 2005.
* Arthur Machen, ''Tales of Horror and the Supernatural'' [[Tartarus Press]] collects most of the greatest of Machen’s short stories. 

There is a substantial critical analysis of Machen's work in a chapter of [[S. T. Joshi]]'s book ''The Weird Tale'' (1990).

== Selected works (with date of publication) ==

* [[The Hill of Dreams]] (1907) 
* [[The Great God Pan]] (1890/1894) 
* ''The White People'' (1899) &mdash; A young girl's diary, recounting tales told her by her nurse, and her increasingly deep delvings into magic. Often described as one of the greatest of all horror short stories. Very subtle in its telling.
* ''The Inmost Light'' (1894) &mdash; A scientist imprisons his wife's soul in a shining jewel, letting ''something else'' into her untenanted body, but the jewel is stolen before he can reverse this...
* ''The Three Imposters'' (1895) &mdash; A short novel composed of many separate short stories, including 'The Novel of the White Powder' and 'The Novel of the Black Seal'.  Centers on the search for a man with spectacles.
* ''The Novel of the Black Seal'' &mdash; A precursor of [[H. P. Lovecraft]] in its subject matter, the protagonist gradually uncovers the secrets of a hidden pre- and non-human race hiding in the Welsh hills, and the true nature of a hybrid, idiot child fathered by one of them.
* ''The Novel of the White Powder'' &mdash; A man's behavior takes a strange turn after he starts taking a new prescription. His sister doesn't know if this is a good thing or a bad one...
* ''The Red Hand'' &mdash; Another story featuring the main characters from 'The Three Imposters'. It focuses on a murder performed with, of all things, an ancient stone axe.
* ''The Shining Pyramid'' &mdash; Strange arrangements of stones appear at the edge of a young man's property. He and a friend attempt to decipher their meaning before it is too late...
* ''The Terror'' &mdash; In 1916 wartime Britain a series of unexplained murders occur with no sign of who or what is responsible.
* ''The Great Return'' (1915) &mdash; The [[Holy Grail]] returns to a Welsh village.
* ''The Bowmen'' (1914) &mdash; In this story, written and published during [[World War I]], the ghosts of archers from the [[battle of Agincourt]] lead by [[Saint George]] come to the aid of British troops.  This is attributed (by some at least) as the origin of the [[Angels of Mons]] legend.
*[[The Secret Glory]] (1922) &mdash; A Public school boy becomes fascinated by tales of the Holy Grail and escapes from his repressive school in search of a deeper meaning to life.

== External links ==

* [http://www.machensoc.demon.co.uk/ The Friends of Arthur Machen &mdash; Literary society with a long Machen biography and links]
* {{gutenberg author|id=Arthur_Machen|name=Arthur Machen}}
<!-- PG Australia has "The Three Imposters", and "Dreads and Drolls" not at the main PG.  Notes in "The Three Imposters" say its out of copyright in the USA, but "Dreads and Drolls" from 1926 probably isn't, so no copyok in this template.  -->
* {{Gutenberg Australia author|letter=M|name=Arthur Machen}}
* [http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/whtpeopl.htm Gaslight] &mdash; ''The White People'' as a free etext
* [http://www.orplex.com/gkcp/readbook.aspx?style=basic.xslt&book=The%20Hill%20of%20Dreams.xml ''The Hill of Dreams'']

[[Category:Writers|Machen, Arthur]]
[[Category:Historic Authors|Machen, Arthur]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]